Business Proposal Writing Guide
The number one reason I ventured into strategy consulting and entrepreneurship development is because at my core I really want to see businesses that are being started staying in business. I really want to see entrepreneurs starting businesses and becoming CEOs not only on business cards and CIPC certificate but actual CEOs of businesses with payroll, premises, and market share. I decided to start by playing my part at grassroot level – working directly with entrepreneurs and startups, starting from the ground up. And over the past 5 years I have been involved full-time in this work, supporting the building, and launching of businesses, observing the major contributors to startup failure and enablers of business growth.
This book is my contribution towards creating an archive of insights focused on enabling business growth for entrepreneurs and startup business owners. Having observed and experienced the cashflow challenges startups experience and how it affects their growth, because of low sales value and possibility of having no new clients or repeat business monthly, I concluded that one of the things that could save startups and small businesses in this challenge is securing a medium or long-term contract to help them with cash flow. Having 1 contract valued at R10 000 monthly is better than having 10 clients valued at R1000, I believe and have learned. What I’m trying to preach here is that small business owners should strive for high sales value, and this doesn’t necessarily mean selling products or services at a premium price but using selling strategies such as packages/combos and contracts over selling as single units. In that way you’ll make more money in one sale, and have a recurring and guaranteed income, respectively.
Get Procurement Ready is a guide aimed at providing pointers to small business owners on what it takes to secure a contract – how and what they need to prepare. And I will be focused specifically on getting a contract to be a supplier to big retailers and contract to be a service provider to corporate clients, and I will cover both in case of an unsolicited business proposition (approaching potential clients to be their supplier/service provider) and solicited business proposition (biding for a contract/tender). My call to you as a business owner is that you need to familiarize yourself with what it takes to “qualify” for such opportunities so that you can in the meantime start preparing yourself BEFORE you approach. You don’t always need to operate from luck – you need to prepare. Hence Get Procurement Ready. I am positive that the insights in this book will be instrumental in enabling you to secure contracts for your business.